Tag Archives: gay Pride

Producers of Dallas Pride — Dallas’ LGBT Pride parade and festival held each September on the third Sunday — is being moved from its long-time home at Lee Park, down the road to Reverchon Park.

Organizers made the announcement today (Friday, March 6), along with the announcement of this year’s theme, “Color Our World With Pride.”

Lonzie Hershner, president of the Dallas Tavern Guild — which produces the Pride events each fall — and owner of The Tin Room and Marty’s Live, said the move “raises our event to the next level. Reverchon Park affords us much more room to expand, create new features and add to the quality of the festival.”

The move “enable[s] a larger event that can be scaled to grow in future years,” according to a press release announcing the change. The festival will feature many local vendors, including food and beverage vendors, entertainment and the return of the Family Pride Zone, the press release noted. The festival will be fenced in, as per city requirements, and admission will again be $5, with children 12 and under admitted free.

Moving the after-parade festival will require “only a small change” in the route of the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade. The parade will still stage on Wycliff Avenue and then move from Wycliff Avenue down Cedar Springs Road to Turtle Creek Boulevard. Only this year, instead of turning left as in year’s past to go to Lee Park, parade participants will turn right on Turtle Creek to go to Reverchon.

A few months ago, some students from Prosper High School contacted me: They were making a video about the history of Gay Pride in Dallas, and wanted to know if they could interview me on film to discuss it? I agreed.

The student arrived well-dressed and prepared. They were very professional (especially for juniors in high school) and easy to work with. It took just a few minutes of my time.

Last week, the director, Alex Watkins — who made the film for his AV class — informed me that it had been submitted to the University Interscholastic League of Texas festival of films. The short, Pride, made it past the first stage, but not on to the next stage.

It’s an impressive student film, I thought, and since very few people got to see it anyway, I figured I’d share a link to the film so others could enjoy it. And you get to see me, though I think it sounds like I have a cold, although maybe that’s how I always sound. Enjoy.

Today, Chad Mantooth, the associate advertising director here at Dallas Voice, sent me a post he found on Reddit.com linking to a “historical photo” showing “Three supporters of Dallas’ first Gay Pride Parade — 1972.” The poster notes that written on the back on the original photo is the date June 24, 1972.

Continuing with our run-up to Friday’s Food Issue, we have this gem from San Francisco, an object lesson in gay-friendly marketing.

The Burger King corporation decided to sell a “Proud Whopper” — a “gay burger” offered only in the City by the Bay, and only for a few days. And they didn’t even change the formulation at all. But that’s not the point. In fact, it’s kind of the exact opposite of the point.

By selling the exact same burger, only with a rainbow wrapper, during S.F. Pride, Burger King sent a clear message — one they even spelled out on the wrapper itself: “We are all the same inside.” The San Francisco location can sell a pretty finite number of burgers in the time frame, but it’s funny how a wrapper — and a welcoming attitude — can raise brand awareness in a demographic.

Are you more inclined to go to Burger King now? And who wants to join me in calling it Burger Queen?

I was a huge fan of John Oliver even before he took over hosting The Daily Show last summer, but his hosting duties raised the bar for snarky political satire — so much so, that HBO gave him his own show, Last Week Tonight, which airs Sundays. Last night’s episode, coming at the end of Gay Pride celebrations all around the U.S., spend the lion’s share of its time talking about gay issues, especially marriage equality and the insanity that is Ugandan anti-gay laws (and the American connection to them). If you don’t have HBO, check out the video after the jump to see it, especially his interview with Ugandan trans activist Pepe Julian Onziema. (And for more web-exclusive interview with Onziema, go here.)

Uptown Players moved its Pride Play Fest from September to June this year, so it seems TeCo Theatrical Productions is stepping in to the fall spot. The Oak Cliff-based company, which is celebrating its 20th season this year, has sent out a call for scripts for its inaugural PlayPride LGBT Festival, which will run Sept. 4–14. Playwrights will compete to benefit their favorite local LGBT group with a $1,000 donation to the winner’s charity of choice.

TeCo is soliciting short (15–20 minutes) unpublished/unproduced scripts of any style, as long as they contain LGBT themes, have a maximum of four cast members (though more characters would, presumably, be OK) and not come with scene changes or blackouts. The author must be a resident of Texas.

The deadline for submission is July 1, and must be submitted in PDF format to info@tecotheater.org (no hard copies accepted). Get crackin’!

I was at a luncheon today, celebrating the 95th anniversary of the original El Fenix restaurant, a staple of Tex-Mex here in Dallas. Also at the luncheon was Mayor Mike Rawlings, who sat at my table during lunch. One of my colleagues noted that the mayor appeared to have lost weight. A while later, the mayor and I got to chatting.

“How was the gay Pride parade yesterday?” he asked me with a smile. “I was out of town so I missed it.”

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings will miss the gay Pride parade this year for the first time since he took office.

Adam McGough, a spokesman for the mayor, said Rawlings will be in New York City this weekend at a conference of the Center for Exhibition Industry Research. Rawlings will also be visiting West Point, N.Y., as part of an initiative to bring a football game to Dallas.

McGough said Rawlings’ absence has nothing to do with the controversy involving a marriage equality resolution at City Council in June — which led some in the LGBT community to call for the mayor and certain other council members to be uninvited from the Pride parade.

“He is disappointed to miss it,” McGough said. “This has nothing to do with the controversy. This is just scheduling.”

Rawlings is only the third Dallas mayor to appear in the gay Pride parade, after Laura Miller and Tom Leppert.

Michael Doughman, executive director of the Dallas Tavern Guild, said this week that only eight of 15 city council members had RSVP’d to ride on the Tavern Guild’s float in this year’s parade — which marks the 30th anniversary of the event.

That number is lower than in recent years, but Patti Fink, president of the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Alliance, said she isn’t alarmed.

Fink noted that several council members were newly elected in June, and the community hasn’t had a chance to build relationships with them. She also said she doesn’t put a lot of stock in RSVPs.

“We have to wait until Pride to see who’s on the float, because that’s really going to be where the proof is,” she said.

Dallas may not celebrate Pride in June — which some would apparently prefer — but we do have Voice of Pride, which is well under way and continues tonight at the Dallas Eagle. In addition, the Dallas Tavern Guild is now accepting nominations for grand marshals for September’s Pride parade. Submit your nomination by by going here.